diff --git a/src/main/java/com/uid2/shared/store/reader/RotatingSiteStore.java b/src/main/java/com/uid2/shared/store/reader/RotatingSiteStore.java
index 124efa2a..0c523032 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/uid2/shared/store/reader/RotatingSiteStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/uid2/shared/store/reader/RotatingSiteStore.java
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 
 
 public class RotatingSiteStore implements ISiteStore, StoreReader<Collection<Site>> {
-    public static final String SITES_METADATA_PATH = "sites_metadata_path";
     private final ScopedStoreReader<Map<Integer, Site>> reader;
 
     public RotatingSiteStore(DownloadCloudStorage fileStreamProvider, StoreScope scope) {
@@ -36,7 +35,8 @@ public Collection<Site> getAll() {
 
     @Override
     public Site getSite(int siteId) {
-        return reader.getSnapshot().get(siteId);
+        final var snapshot = reader.getSnapshot();
+        return snapshot != null ? snapshot.get(siteId) : null;
     }
 
     public JsonObject getMetadata() throws Exception {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/uid2/shared/store/RotatingSiteStoreTest.java b/src/test/java/com/uid2/shared/store/RotatingSiteStoreTest.java
index 90a7b709..54a554de 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/uid2/shared/store/RotatingSiteStoreTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/uid2/shared/store/RotatingSiteStoreTest.java
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 
 import static com.uid2.shared.TestUtilites.makeInputStream;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 public class RotatingSiteStoreTest {
@@ -97,4 +96,10 @@ public void loadContentMultipleSites() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(siteStore.getAllSites().contains(s3));
         assertTrue(siteStore.getAllSites().contains(s4));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void getSiteReturnsNullBeforeLoadContentIsCalled() { //eg, loadContent() is never called for Private Operators as they don't currently require site data
+        final var site = siteStore.getSite(1);
+        assertNull(site);
+    }
 }